Thank You And Goodbye
by The Art Wizard
Summary: Stephen Hillenberg, the creator of Spongebob Squarepants, had passed away of ALS at the age of 57. This is how Spongebob and the Bikini-Bottomites mourn the loss of their creator and dear friend.


Thank you; And Goodbye

12:30pm and Spongebob was still in his bed, tears of the uncommon emotion for him, sorrow, trickle down his face. He didn't want to get out of bed. He didn't have the strength. But he had to; he had to be somewhere today, and he was most important that he himself attend it.

Where did he need to go, you ask?

A very close friend of Spongebob had passed away yesterday, and today's the funeral.

No, it wasn't Patrick's funeral. It wasn't Squidward's. Nor Mr. Krabs' or Sandy's or Mrs. Puffs' or Gary's. It wasn't even Plankton's funeral.

Today was the funeral of none other than Stephen Hillenburg; his creator. He was diagnosed with the terminal illness of ALS; otherwise known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Despite it being incurable with no treatment to reverse or halt the illness, he hoped for a miracle. He even prayed to Neptune for a miracle.

No such miracle came.

"Why?" the sponge asked himself, "Why did he have to go?"

The unforgettable sound of his pet snail's slithering up to him, "Meow."

Spongebob answered, "Not now, Gary."

"Meow."

"I'll feed you later, Gary!"

Gary slithered on top of his owner and meowed in his ear. "Meow. Meow. Meow. Meow."

Spongebob found the strength to lift himself up and held his pet, "C'mon, Gary! I'm not in the mood. Can't you see I'm depressed?"

Gary looked at Spongebob's clock, which got the sea-sponge's attention. It was the middle of the day and the funeral is in an hour.

Spongebob sighed, "I know, Gare-Bear. But I don't know if I can even go to the funeral." He sets his snail down next to him. "How could anyone in Bikini Bottom go? How could we build up the courage to go to our own creator's burial?"

"Meow."

"Gary!" said Spongebob, "I know that Steve would do the same for me. But…" He pauses, then he actually leaves his bed and looks out his window, "What if I make a fool of myself out there, Gary? What if I do something so disgraceful or dishonorable during the memorial that I ruin everything?"

To clarify, Spongebob was given the honor of giving the eulogy. He's been preparing for it the past couple days. But now that the time came, he couldn't find it in his heart to even show up.

Gary slipped toward Spongebob and nuzzled at his leg. "Meow."

This made Spongebob smile and kneel down to his snail, "You're right, Gary. I shouldn't worry about what might go wrong. I guess I just want my last goodbye to him to be perfect."

Spongebob noticed how watery Gary's eyes were. The little snail had been crying too. The sponge held Gary closer, "Oh, Gary! I'll go. And I'll give him the best eulogy ever!"

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

"Spongebob!"

Patrick, Spongebob's best friend, called from outside. "Are you ready? We gotta get there early."

Spongebob remembered: he had to be there early so they'll be prepared. He looked down and saw he was still in his pajamas. In an instant, he rushed into his closet, put on the best outfit he had and rushed out the door with Patrick. "Sorry about that Patrick. I haven't been myself as of late."

"That's okay, Spongebob." The pink starfish replied, "I'm upset too. So much that I forgot how to tie my good shoes."

Spongebob was a bit confused, "Patrick, you don't wear shoes."

"Oh." Patrick remembered. It looks as though his comrade was too upset to remember important details like that. Or was that expected from someone of his intellect (or lack of)? But he at least put on a respectable outfit for the occasion.

The sea-sponge put an arm around his best friend's shoulder, "It's not the same without him, is it?"

Patrick shook his head, "I mean, him leaving after the first movie is one thing, but now…" his eyes start watering.

Spongebob grabbed his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the tears forming around his eyes. "It's okay, Patrick. Let's not get your good suit stained."

"Why did it happen, Spongebob?"

Spongebob paused, "What?"

Patrick quickly turned around and shouted, "Why did he have to die‽ Steve did nothing wrong, so did he have to get sick and leave us‽"

Wow. It's very rare that Patrick got serious like this. It makes you think that the whole bumbling idiot thing is just an act. It even threw Spongebob off guard.

"I—uh," Spongebob had this dilemma just earlier. He sighed, "I don't know, Patrick."

Patrick shouted again, "It's not fair! It's not FAIR!"

"I know it isn't Patrick," Spongebob assured, "But can we talk about it after the funeral? We gotta stay focused."

* * *

The two finally made it to the church where the ceremony was taking place: chairs were set up into rows, Squidward, Sandy, Mr. Krabs and his daughter Pearl, Mrs. Puff, Larry the Lobster, even Plankton and his computer wife Karen were there. They were all dressed appropriately for the funeral, their heads down in front of a picture of Steve. Of course, he wasn't being buried in the ocean. He was being buried on land. But the Bikini Bottom dwellers were still holding this burial ceremony here in the waters.

"Hey, everyone." Introduced Spongebob, "We're here."

"Spongebob, me boy." Mr. Krabs walked over to Spongebob and hugged him, "We were beginning to think ye weren't going to make it."

Spongebob returned the hug, "I thought so too."

Sandy Cheeks walked to him as well, "Did you remember to bring your eulogy speech?"

The Sponge then pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket with what he'll be reading on the stand.

"Good. We can't have no fowl-ups." Sandy then gave him a hug as well, "It's been a long week for us. But after this we can be done with our mourning."

Spongebob nodded and they all went on to do their own thing before the ceremony began.

* * *

The funeral finally started and everyone in Bikini Bottom came.

Everyone was during their part in the interment: Patrick, Larry and Mr. Krabs lead all the guests to their sits (of course Krabs wasn't going to seat anyone without pay). Squidward played burial music with his clarinet along if a few other musicians to add flavor. Plankton and Karen read over Steve's final will and testament, to see with there were any final changes before his passing. Sandy, Pearl and Mrs. Puff carefully watched over the event, making sure that everything was going to plan.

Spongebob was doing his last-minute reading up on his speech when, much to everyone's surprise, King Neptune swam into the ceremony. With royal guards traveling with him, everyone bowed in respect to the Ruler of the Seven Seas. His face was painted with the same shade of sorrow and lose as everyone else.

"Your Majesty!" Everyone said in unison.

King Neptune stated, "You may all rise."

As they got up, Spongebob stood there in absolute shock. Why of all people was he doing here‽ Ever since the diagnosis, Spongebob prayed to Neptune day and night for things to get better. How could he not answer him? How could he let his friend, his creator, die?

"You liar!" Spongebob rushed at Neptune, his eyes filled with an emotion that was rarer on him then sadness: anger. He rushed after the King as the guards held him back, "I trusted you! You're a **god** for crying out loud! How could you let Steve die‽‽"

Everyone was appealed to see Spongebob act this way. Even Patrick, the guy most likely to do something as bold as that, was absolutely stunned to see Spongebob assault the King of the Ocean.

"Guards." The King addressed, "Let him pass."

The Guards questioned his order, "But, Sire, he's trying to attack you!"

"Do it!"

The Guards hesitated but then did what their lord commanded them, and Spongebob wasted no time in running to Neptune and repeatedly hitting him like a child whapping his fists at his father. He shouted at Neptune, babbling things that were incomprehensible through his emotional breakdown. Tears flowed from his eyes like waterfalls and his face red like a tomato.

After what felt like ten minutes, Spongebob finally stopped his tantrum and grabbed King Neptune's robe and cried into it. All that left-over anger and pain and remorse he had in him for the past few days was starting to dwindle away. He felt the mighty hand of Neptune embrace him.

"Easy, Spongebob." Commanded Neptune, "I understand your frustration."

Frustration‽ Try Fury! This was his show's creator for Pete's sake! His grip on the robe became tighter.

"We all miss him just as much as you do. But know this: he loved you all very much. And he wished you all so much happiness and joy to last you all a lifetime."

Spongebob pulled his face out of Neptune's robe, his face still red, some tears still lingering, and mucus dripped from his nostrils. "But I prayed to you! I asked you night after night after night to cure him somehow! And you didn't!"

"And you think no one else here prayed too?" Questioned Neptune as he shows Spongebob the Bikini Bottom dwellers, all who had lost their expressions of surprise from the sea-sponge's actions and are now dropping their heads in sadness.

They all feel how Spongebob feels.

Spongebob felt upset that he was making such a fuss at Steve's funeral, but he just couldn't let his questions be left unanswered. "If so many of us asked you to save him," Ask Spongebob, "Then why didn't you?"

"It was his time." The King of the Sea answered, "It doesn't get any simpler than that. Besides, he may be gone, but it's not permanent. He's now spending eternity in Atlantis with me!"

Spongebob's face lightened up. "w-w-What?"

"Of course, Boy." Mr. Krabs walked up and put a friendly claw on the sponge's shoulder, "Steve was a nice man, Spongebob. It's a tragedy that we lost him, but in the end, he's in a better place."

Neptune assured, "That's right, Son. Steve is in a _much_ better place. He's living the Atlantis with me and the rest of those who have been my friend in life, which includes most of you here." Most of the people smiled and nodded. Plankton was going to as well, but Karen stopped him from nodding.

Spongebob wiped his face and smiled. "So, Steve isn't here, but in Atlantis?"

"Exactly."

"Can I go to Atlantis, Your Majesty?"

"Yeah!" Shouted Patrick, "I want to go to Atlantis too!"

Mr. Krabs rose his voice, "I wanna go too! I wanna see all the streets of gold and the towering mansions there!"

Squidward spoke up too, "I want to play my clarinet with the singing mermaids there!"

"I wanna body-build with the mermen there!" Larry exclaimed.

Everyone started to speak up and explained what they'd do in Atlantis.

King Neptune silenced them, "Settle down, settle down! You'll all go only when it's your time to go. But first, you all have your lives to live." Everybody simply grinned at that. He _was_ right. There's no rush; they can wait. Neptune then turned his attention to Spongebob, "And if I'm not mistaken, you've got a speech to say, don't you?"

"Oh, that's right!" Spongebob had almost forgot after that whole ordeal, "But, could you give me a few minutes? I'm gonna make a couples of changes to my speech."

He ran out and grabbed a pen, scratching out some of the thing he wrote earlier and replaced then with his new inspired words.

* * *

Everyone finally settled down; the ceremony was about to truly start. Spongebob walked up on top the stage to the alter, next to him was a picture of Steve, still in his prime. After clearing his throat, he looked at his paper and make his speech:

"Everyone, we're here today to say 'Goodbye' to a very close friend of ours. He wasn't just a friend; however, he was also the creator of our show. Steve was there with us when we started out. He made everyone laugh with his wit and humor and our show quickly became the most recognizable cartoon of all time.

"After the first movie…he left, thinking it had jumped the shark, whatever _that_ means. It was ten whole years of fans saying our show was no longer good enough. It had lowered in quality, our writing had gone south, our direction soured, the show became a shell of its former self.

"After the second movie, Steve came back to the show! It was the happiest day of our lives. Our creator came back to do the show. Finally, it well go back on track. Fans well love the show as much as they remembered. We'll be on top of the world again!

"But only for a while…when we all found out he was diagnosed with ALS, we feared for his health. As we all know, ALS has no known cure. But we all hoped and prayed that he would overcome it. But…he didn't.

"You know, before I got here, I was asking myself 'Why did Steve have to die in such a way?'. My buddy Patrick asked me the same thing today. The two of us couldn't understand how such despicable diseases like this one can be allowed in our world. And how come innocent people like Steve can in up with them.

"And the truth is we _still_ don't. Heck, if it were up to me, I'd rid the whole world of diseases, impairments and wicked behaviors. But I guess that's just how the world works. My point is that what happened to Steve was a tragedy. He died from the illness but what could we have done about it other than hoped it would go away? It could have happened to anybody and we would have felt the same way.

"But you know what? After this talk I had with His Majesty over here, I realized that no matter if he miraculously survived or not, he still would have to face death, like the rest of us. And, well, I think it's better that he did go the way he did. Because, now he's in a place where he'll never have to worry about it ever again.

"They say in Atlantis nobody's afraid, because there's nothing to fear. I'll bet he's Scooba-diving with the mermaids over there right now! Dahahahahahahaha! But anyway, we all miss Steve. But the good news is he's in a better place.

"Now I know I'm rambling on so I'm going to cut it short:

"Thank you, Steve, for writing our show into fruition.

"Thank you, Steve, for recognizing our potential.

"Thank you, Steve…for creating us.

"Thank you; And goodbye."

* * *

 **Hello, Everyone. As we all know, Stephen Hillenberg, creator of Spongebob Squarepants, has passed away. Of coarse this whole fanfic was about that fact. Steve was a marine biologist who made arguably the most iconic cartoon of all time. His passing left a ginormous hole in the hearts of his fellow fans, including me. Now, I don't know if Steve was a christian or not, but I'd like to believe he was. But alas, believing someone was and knowing someone was aren't the same thing. Regardless, my prayers go out to his family. And as for Steve, you will be missed. No matter what anyone else thinks or says, you'll always be our Ocean Man.**

 **And with that, I hope you all loved this story, have an amazing day, and God bless all you Spongebob fans.**


End file.
